Guild Wars 2

as many people already know the GS is pretty much functionally weak atm and you lose too much damage and utility using it for w/e spec versus our current weapon choices.

Anet seems to like balancing Necros thematically and use theoretical scenarios, so here is my attempt at helping them out. GS damage needs to increase across the board, cast times are too long and telling for no actual damage payoff if they land. also after-casts need to be removed otherwise this weapon will be a death sentence in PvP against competent opponents.

1. Dusk Strike, Fading Twilight and Chilling Scythe should have their damage increased and should ALL apply ~1 second of chill otherwise the weapon skill is very frustrating to land at the current attack speed and animation locking and the whole risk vs reward things becomes non-existent.

2. Gravedigger should have it’s damage increased, after-cast removed and fully reset the skill when any target below the threshold is attacked. the current 80% recharge seems arbitrary and makes the skill very clunky to use.

3. Death Spiral in it’s current incarnation is nice, but does not solve the issues of using a greatsword in melee and especially one as slow as the Necros’. all melee GS weapons (Guardian and Warrior) have 2 gap closers and currently the Reaper GS only has 1 (GS#5), but since Anet are into the whole movie monster theme how about they turn this skill into a taunt (maybe even a cone shaped taunt for up to 3 targets so it is still a skill shot?) that also applies the vuln and generates LF. it can act as a thematic “gap closer” and actually allow the GS to function as a melee weapon and synergize well with itself.

4. Nightfall decent skill, just increase the damage as with all the other GS skills.

5. Grasping Darkness needs to change because as it is it does not really help the Reaper be sticky to a target. first, make the skill function like Warrior “Whirlwind Attack” and be one that you can aim. second, make the targets actually move the entire distance to the caster and not stop 300 units from the caster; it’s harder to land skills and stick to the target otherwise. thirdly, reduce the poison from 10s to 4s and add a 2 second chill to the skill per target hit, to synergize with the whole monster theme.

Rangers have melee Greatsword and theirs only has one gap closer.

Captain Unusual.9163:

Rangers have melee Greatsword and theirs only has one gap closer.

Rangers already have range, they hardly need to close the gap.
Reaper has no viable range options, and thus it needs the proper active defenses and gap closers.

Odeezee.7362:

3. Death Spiral in it’s current incarnation is nice, but does not solve the issues of using a greatsword in melee and especially one as slow as the Necros’. all melee GS weapons (Guardian and Warrior) have 2 gap closers and currently the Reaper GS only has 1 (GS#5), but since Anet are into the whole movie monster theme how about they turn this skill into a taunt (maybe even a cone shaped taunt for up to 3 targets so it is still a skill shot?) that also applies the vuln and generates LF. it can act as a thematic “gap closer” and actually allow the GS to function as a melee weapon and synergize well with itself.

4. Nightfall decent skill, just increase the damage as with all the other GS skills.

Thematically speaking, It would be very odd to use Taunt when our profession’s mechanic is the complete polar opposite, Fear.

A viable option would be to make nightfall a ground targeted teleport, akin to Infiltrator’s Arrow.

Solid suggestions, hope Anet is reading.

Alter the coefficient on all skills (I think this is going to happen)

GS1. Understand that perma chill isn’t very strong and let us have it. It took anet over a year to give us perma weakness, and that didn’t matter either. The condition is good, but its no game changer

Gs2. Fine with coefficient increase
Gs3. Fine with coefficient increase
GS4. Un nerf chilling darkness
GS5. This skill is a disaster with the poor range cast time and aiming issues. Scrap this skill and give the class a weaker version of the dragon hunter pull trap.

Make those changes and them if GS is top tier DPS, it will be a high risk high reward class without the defensive lifeforce and lifesteal potential of dagger.

GS Skill 5 should have a longer range, I get kited so easily.

The auto-attack suggests are solid.

I’d like to add make GS Skill 4 a movement based skill, like Engineer’s Rifle Skill 5. But instead of jumping, he moves through the underworld and back up into the ground-targeted location.

Last 2 days got killed by kiting probably half of the time in PvP. Kiting and immobilize…

GS1 needs to be faster, needs more chill.

GS2 needs cast times reduced.

GS5 needs 1500 range, ground targeted and a shorter cooldown.

Without a powerful pull mechanic the necro won’t be able to stay on their target. Chill just doesn’t do it. Especially now that chill has been nerfed.

One Blink, Shadow Step or Rush and the melee necro is left waving good bye.

Basically when people get in a fight with a reaper they need to know they can’t disengage easily.

GS2 : I’d much rather see the cast-time reduced (by 80 or even just 50%) when used on targets below 50% hp than the CD. 5 sec CD doesn’t need reduction imo.
I wouldn’t mind the CD being 8 or even 10 seconds if the cast-time was reduced.

GS5 : simply doesn’t work, I mean it does something, but not something that’s of any use as is.
Pie-in-the-sky hope is it gets some kind of mobility.
Realistically I’d be content if you could pre-aim it, it had a tad more range and it worked consistently.

1. Needs faster animations and the Chill on 3 needs to last longer. I’m fine with us not getting Chill on every attack but the end of the chain needs to chill your target enough so that you can somewhat stick to them.

2. Ditch the aftercast, increase the damage. Right now, this just feels like a terrible Heartseeker.

3. I actually like this skill as-is, though it should probably cap at 5 targets. It would be a lot better if the Chill from 1 lasted long enough to land your hits from 3.

4. Good skill, just reduce the aftercast.

5. Useless. It’ll miss anyone who’s actually trying to get away from you. Needs much more speed and a bit more range.

Captain Unusual.9163:

Rangers have melee Greatsword and theirs only has one gap closer.

An 1,100-range gap-closer, plus a 900-ranged, targeted cripple on their 4, plus all their attacks are much faster, plus they have a pet to help them out (many of which have good CC).

Captain Unusual.9163:

Rangers have melee Greatsword and theirs only has one gap closer.

yes Rangers only have 1 gap closer, but they also have the longest leap in the game, a cripple/bloack/counterattack and a small leap on their 2 second daze on skill 5

Tyriark.7825:

Odeezee.7362:

3. Death Spiral in it’s current incarnation is nice, but does not solve the issues of using a greatsword in melee and especially one as slow as the Necros’. all melee GS weapons (Guardian and Warrior) have 2 gap closers and currently the Reaper GS only has 1 (GS#5), but since Anet are into the whole movie monster theme how about they turn this skill into a taunt (maybe even a cone shaped taunt for up to 3 targets so it is still a skill shot?) that also applies the vuln and generates LF. it can act as a thematic “gap closer” and actually allow the GS to function as a melee weapon and synergize well with itself.

4. Nightfall decent skill, just increase the damage as with all the other GS skills.

Thematically speaking, It would be very odd to use Taunt when our profession’s mechanic is the complete polar opposite, Fear.

A viable option would be to make nightfall a ground targeted teleport, akin to Infiltrator’s Arrow.

well think more like we are forcing them to us against their own will ala Scorpion then it fits thematically, imo.
the tele is a great idea, but idk how Anet will feel about it thematically.

Reaper greatsword does less AA dps than ranger greatsword and rangers have a pet to compensate for lower weapon damage than other classes. The only weaker GS AA is mesmer’s. guardia’s AA is ~ 71% more dps and warrior’s is ~ 45% more dps.

Personally when I imagine a movie monster I imagine you running from them only to turn a corner and have them stare you in the face. Teleportation fits so well, and it should be on at least one GS skill.

“Oh, you’re running from me? Nope, now I’m right in front of you again!”

I’d prefer GS5 to be like a targeted leap with a chill field at the landing spot.